Opinion: I just ate my own version of the ‘McWhopper’

It’s unclear if the world will ever see the McWhopper. But I’ve already devoured one. Two, in fact.

In case you missed the news, Burger King
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has invited McDonald’s
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, its arch rival, to collaborate on a burger — the McWhopper, as it’s dubbed the hybrid sandwich -- in the name of promoting world peace. But it isn’t clear if McDonald’s wants to play along — at least on the sandwich front. McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a Facebook post that “we love the intention but think our two brands could do something bigger to make a difference.”

No matter. If you want a McWhopper, all you have to do is head to a McDonald’s for a Big Mac and then to a Burger King for a Whopper with cheese and then merge the two sandwiches into one.

That’s what I did on my lunch hour the other day. And I have to say there’s a strange, savory logic to the combo.

Look, everyone knows that the Big Mac is one of the signature creations of Western civilization: It’s the burger writ large as a triple-decker affair, and one that’s made all the more tasty by virtue of the McDonald’s special sauce that acts as a kind of culinary glue for all those layers of meat, bread and cheese. But if you ask me, when it comes to the main ingredient — namely, the meat — McDonald’s can’t compete with Burger King, which has the flame-broiled advantage. (McDonald’s had no comment when I reached out to a press representative about its burgers; Burger King has yet to respond to my inquiry.)

But it goes beyond the beef in terms of what each chain gets right or wrong. Take the all-important matter of onions. On a Whopper, you get them in the form of a few onion circles, which in my book doesn’t translate into the perfect onion-flavor delivery system. On a Big Mac, you get them neatly diced and spread evenly atop the patty so the flavor is always there — like onion pixie dust. (Can you tell I take my onions seriously?)

But now that I’ve established each sandwich’s strengths and weaknesses, there’s the all-important question of how to pull off this burger marriage. At its new McWhopper.com site, Burger King suggests building the hybrid burger with equal parts Big Mac (top bun, one beef patty, cheese, lettuce, special sauce, middle bun) and Whopper (tomato, onion, ketchup, pickles, beef patty, bottom bun). For my lunchtime experiment, I tried it a couple of ways. First, I used the Whopper bun and condiments as my base and the Big Mac patties as my burger “guts.” And then I flipped the approach around. The latter is definitely the way to go. For a McWhopper to work, you want that Big Mac triple deck of bread and you want that Whopper patty. If you play around a little more you can try to apply some of the Big Mac onions and special sauce to your Whopper patty for the ultimate McWhopper experience. Oh, and if you want tomatoes (and who doesn’t want tomatoes?), you’ll need to procure them from your Whopper. I never realized this before, but a Big Mac doesn’t have tomatoes. (Note to McDonald’s management: Man — or woman — cannot live on lettuce, pickles and onions alone.)

Of course, all this McWhopper-ing requires a bit of effort (and given that you have to buy two sandwiches, your cheap fast food lunch suddenly becomes…not so cheap.) So, I’m not so sure I’d advocate making your own version of a McWhopper a regular thing. For that matter, I’m not saying a McWhopper is the best burger you’ll ever have. After all, we’re living in the “better burger” era, when fast-casual chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack serve up quality burgers for little more than the cost of the fast-food versions. And heck, if you really want a great burger — at least in New York — may I suggest the '21' Club, which serves a $34 exemplar of a burger? (I should know: I tried it as part of this burger survey.)

But on a ho-hum weekday, a McWhopper could make lunchtime a little more exciting.

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